Snyder's first game in three seasons was all about making adjustments, and not just on the football field. With a day to review the tape, Snyder was able to assess his own performance in Saturday's 21-17 win against Massachusetts.

"It took a little while to get acclimated during the pregame," Snyder said during Monday's Big 12 conference call. "Once we got into the ball game, I think I did a little bit better than I thought I might in regards to keeping the game on the field and not being distracted.

"I didn't accomplish everything I wanted to and probably didn't do a very good job of coaching our special teams, quite honestly. But the brief answer is, it felt a little different."

Growing pains were apparent as K-State failed to score in the second half and struggled to put away a Championship Subdivision opponent. Snyder realized he was inheriting a team with some history of fourth-quarter struggles, and finishing strong has been a point of emphasis since spring drills.

"I made a considerable effort to make a point of that on numerous occasions for our players in the last several months," Snyder said. "The more I think about it, they've probably heard it enough. Now it's time to get our guys to keep playing and not admonish them for whatever deficiencies they might have had in the second half."

Upon further review, Snyder didn't see any kind of second-half collapse. Take away two disastrous special teams plays -- a blocked punt and fumbled return -- and the Wildcats likely would have won by a comfortable margin.

"I thought we played well enough defensively in the second half to say the defense finished strong," Snyder said. "Possession time was 20 minutes to 10 minutes in the second half, so it's not like the offense totally failed. We were just in some bad positions because of the kicking game."

Snyder chuckled at the notion that he will be able to relax with his first game out of the way. But if nothing else, he now knows what adjustments must be made.

"It allows me, personally, to feel a little bit more acclimatized," Snyder said. "It's been three, four years since I've done this. There were things I certainly remembered or recalled through the course of the ball game that I'm processing right now."

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